Portable bath



1961 L. E. RUDOLF 2,972,752

PORTABLE BATH Filed April 7, 1958 [as {is [.Zudoif. BY ATTW'F/VEY INVENTOR.

United States Patent PORTABLE BATH Leslie E. Rudolf, 87 Cooper Drive, New Rochelle, N.

Filed Apr. 7, 1958, Ser. No. 726,694

1 Claim. (Cl. 4177) This invention relates to a portable bath and more particularly to a portable babys bath for mounting in a kitchen sink.

Portable baths that mount on or in a bath tub have the serious disadvantage of requiring the person giving the bath to bend over and/ or kneel in a very tiring position. Portable baths mounted on a folding stand are complicated, expensive, require water to be carried .to and away from them and incur risk of spilling water on the floor.

Principal objects of the invention are to provide a portable bath that is adapted for mounting in a kitchen sink so that it is at an ideal height for bathing a small child, with hot and cold water on tap, and adapted to spill the water into the sink; to provide a portable bath which is very light, is collapsible to pack in a small space, and is very simple and cheap to manufacture. These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

Figs. 1, 2, and 3 are perspective views respectively of separated frame members, spread out lining, and the assembled bath mounted on a kitchen sink.

According to the invention there is provided a very light weight highly portable and low cost baby bath which can be mounted for very convenient use, on the customary kitchen sink. The bath comprises only 3 parts including a simple rectangular rustless metal frame made of two substantially U-shaped telescoping halves and a water holding flexible tub portion which is removably secured to the frame preferably by passage of the telescoping leg portions through permanent hems along two opposite sides of the liner sheet and securing of flaps along the other two sides around the said portions of the frame which connect the leg portions. This bath takes very little room in storage and in use, the solid firm support provided by the sink structure affords a feeling of security. The counter on either side of the sink provides ample space for supplies and articles.

Referring now to the drawings, the frame is illustrated disassembled in Fig. 1 and comprises two generally U- shaped tubular members and 11, the member 10 being formed of metal tubing preferably aluminum alloy having a wall thickness providing adequate stilfness.

Member 10 has a mid portion 12 joining two parallel leg portions 13 and 14 which have an outer diameter to fit slidingly into corresponding leg portions 15 and 16 of the member 11. The leg portions 15 and 16 have an internal diameter to telescope over the legs 13 and 14 and they are joined by a mid portion 17. The mid portions 12 and 17 have a length which is preferably somewhat less than the width of a standard kitchen sink. Preferably this length is between 14 and inches, preferably about 18 inches.

The tubing may be round or rectangular. When the frame members 10 and 11 are telescoped together, it is preferable to prevent the ends of legs 13 and 14 from jamming into the bends which join the legs 15 and 16 to the midportion 17. To this end, detents or stops 18 may be provided preferably by inwardly deforming a portion of the tubing wall. The legs 13 and 14 may be of about the same length as legs 15 and 16. In a preferred example the legs 15 and 16 may both be about 18 inches long. In a preferred example, one half of the frame may be formed of inch outside diameter 0.049 wall tubing, and the other half may be formed of l inch outside diameter .065 wall tubing.

The flexible tub portion 20 is illustrated in Fig. 2. This comprises a sheet of flexible waterproof material preferably a plastic such as a plasticized vinyl chloride sheet or a flexible polyethylene. The thickness being preferably between about 12 to 18 gauge and preferably about 15 gauge.

The sheet is rectangular and has its four corner portions cut off preferably at a 45 angle. It is enough wider than the distance between the frame legs to provide about a 4 inch deep basin trough 21 when mounted on the frame. The material is folded over along each side to provide hems 22 and 23 through which the frame legs are passed. These hems are made permanent by heat sealing seams along the folded material. Folds around the midportions 12 and 17 are preferably nonpermanent so that the tub sheet can readily be disassembled from the frame. Various securing means may be employed. Preferred are snap fasteners made of nonrusting material. Thus folds of flaps of material 24 and 25 are provided with a suitable number of snap fastener portions 26 and the mating portion 27 of the snaps are mounted in the material inwardly from the portions 26 at a distance providing the desired fold when the snap fasteners are snapped together.

The tub portion 20 is mounted on the frame by inserting legs 15 and 16 of member 11 into hems 22 and 23, then inserting and telescoping legs 13 and 14 into the legs 15 and 16. The flaps 24 and 25 are folded over the frame midportions 12 and 17 and secured by the snaps.

An important feature is the length dimension of the tub portion 20 between the flaps 24 and 25. This should preferably be long enough so that the frame can be extended enough to span a sink of the longer standard type. The legs of the frame will be made long enough so that when the tub portion is fully extended, the legs will remain telescoped at least about 3 inches. When placed in a sink 30 as shown in Fig. 3, the midportions 12 and 17 will rest on the sink rim 31. As the bath is filled with water, the material of the tub portion will hang down as trough 21 and preferably touch the bottom 32 of the sink. This is a very desirable feature because it gives a baby the feeling of a solid and secure support.

When placed on shorter sinks, the frame is telescoped together closer as required. A suitable span between fiaps 24 and 25 is about 32 inches; and between 22 and 23 about 24 inches. Usually it will preferably be advisable to adjust the length of the hems 22 and 23 to a lesser length than results from a 45 cut of the corners which shortening will provide easier adjustment of the tub to a shorter sink.

Since certain changes in the construction set forth which are within the spirit and scope of the invention may be made, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

For use with a kitchen sink having a rectangular basin with a rectangular top rim, a baby bath comprising in combination a rectangular frame having a fixed width approximately as wide as the average distance between the front and rear rims of customary kitchen sinks, and

- u a variable length which is freely adjustable between a minimum length and a maximum length exceeding the distance between the right and left end rims of the longer of said customary sinks so as to rest on said end rims, said frame being formed by two members each made of a length of metal tubing, each member being formed to have two parallel leg portions joined at one end by a bi ght or mid portion at substantially 90, the tubing of 7 the frame is adjusted to said maximum length, and the minimum length of said frame being determined by the lengths of said leg portions when fully telescoped together; a flexible tub sheet portion of a single rectangular piece of water tight non metallic flexible sheet material, said tub sheet having fixed hems along two opposite longer sides through which corresponding pairs of the telescoped frame legs extend, flaps along the shorter sides of the tub sheet looped around the respective mid portions of the frame, separable fastener means attached to the sheet material removably securing said flaps, around said mid portions, said flaps being spaced apart from each other at a distance less than the sum of the lengths of a pair of telescoping leg portions to prevent separation of said frame members further than when the frame is adjusted to said maximum length While maintaining telescopic engagement of said leg portions, said tub sheet having a width dimension between the side hems greater than the distance between opposite telescoping pairs of leg portions, and whereby when the bath is placed on a sink in use, said frame members are readily moveable toward each other while supported on the rim of the sink by the forces acting through the tub portion caused by the weight of an infant being washed and allowing the bottom of the tub portion to touch the bottom of the sink.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,421,808 Robertson June 10, 1947 2,487,228 Feichtmeir Nov. 8, 1949 2,507,848 Bashaw May 16, 1950 2,560,575 Holland July 17, 1951 2,635,252 Gerue et al. Apr. 21, 1953 2,636,190 Avila Apr. 28, 1953 

